The
problem? Government has messed up the roads through
an outmoded, bureaucratic and socialistic police
state model.
The
solution? Employ private property rights and free
market solutions that respect the
"customers" and taxpayers. End the police
state highway culture model and recognize drivers as
citizens -- not subjects.
Briefly,
the solution to bad roads is to blow up the Virginia
Department of Transportation and bury all the
evidence!
A
good start would be to study numerous Heritage
Foundation and other conservative think tank
statistics and solutions. A survey of the current
legislative solutions being considered shows that
our politicians haven't a clue. They do have a
couple of good ideas, a
really
bad one, and mostly ugly, wasteful and unworkable
"solutions" to traffic congestion.
•
One good thing now being recommended: Turn local
control, and budget allocations, over to the locals.
City streets and back roads need to be “owned”
by local government.
•
At the same time, through roads must be wrested from
local desires to develop — kept clear of traffic
lights. The rights of travelers to traverse the
state must not be thwarted by Charlottesville’s
and
Albemarle
County’s refusal to accept a real bypass. If big
box stores want a new intersection make them pay for
a grade-separated interchange instead of passing
costs to motorists who must stop at stop lights.
•
Another good idea now under consideration:
Converting subdivision roads into private streets
that homeowner associations build and police
themselves. Subdivisions should pay for and keep up
their own
roads.
As compensation, though, they should get a tax break
for doing so.
•
The worst idea in the legislative offering is to
force localities to prevent home ownership in “large
lot” subdivisions, requiring instead "anti
sprawl" policies that have failed everywhere
they are tried, even as they destroy property rights
for families. Forcing development into city areas
only deprives families of the space they need on “large
lots” to grow their
families in peace and comfort. A house and a nice
sized
lot
is a fundamental right of families! Besides,
experiments in distorting living and travel patterns
have proven to only increase pollution-causing
congestion.
•
Private ownership of major through roads. Like toll
roads of yore that first criss-crossed the country
they would respond to market need, not government
fiat. They would be built and maintained by private
money,
paid
for by electronically collected tolls, and even
self-policed with humane and respectful “law
enforcement” that recognizes the rights of
customer travelers and that are geared to pleasant
and safe driving — not piggish revenue
enhancement.
•
Recognize that driving is a right and not a
privilege. This may ultimately take a constitutional
amendment. The invention of the automobile and the
development of “public” roads introduced
Americans to the police state — now well
entrenched and “accepted” by all but the most
lawless. Except that most Americans are now
contemptuous towards even legitimate authority as
opposed to often mindless government regulation —
and that is not a good thing. We recognize that most speed laws are
enforced to raise money not because they are needed
for safety.
But
we miss the more important aspect of such law
enforcement; it is a daily reminder of who is in
charge. We are subject to “house arrest” by
administratively losing our licenses by a system
that does not afford us even the protection that
common criminals get.
•
Start by legalizing radar detectors so we at least
know when we are being spied on by cops.
•
End the prima facie power of most traffic laws. Make
the cops prove that exceeding speed limits is indeed
dangerous. Laws must be tied to real need. Cops must
not be treated as super-citizens, accorded rights,
privileges and power over the rest of us. We are
either citizens or subjects.
•
Where it is not practical to sell off the roads
privatize operations and maintenance as a way to cut
costs and make them more convenient and safe. The
market always works that way.
•
Privatize DMV and routine traffic law enforcement.
No need to tie up courts or cops which are needed
for dealing with real crime. Licenses can be issued
from grocery stores. Security? They deal with credit
cards
all
of the time. And why do you need an armed pig to
tell you that you are skilled enough to drive?
•
Stop throwing $tens of millions$ into near-useless
rail transit. If rail was such a good idea, users
would cover the cost in ticket prices. Money thrown
down this rat hole keeps money from much needed
roads. Check Heritage Foundation studies. Rails are
losers.
•
Recognize the “Information Super Highway” so
touted but little realized in Virginia. Instead,
most of Virginia is covered by Information Dirt
Roads! Unless and until we get high-speed internet
access out here where I live, most of us cannot
cyber commute and thereby save the roads! Virginia
would better use taxpayer money by
wiring
the state!
•
Don’t spend an additional dime on government
roads! Government has doubled in a decade in
Virginia. Stop the growth of government. Use the
entire surplus and not just half of it -- surely
more than a billion a year. Any increase in user
fees or taxes is selling out to the devil of even
bigger government while doing nothing to improve
travel!
•
If we need more money we can cut into bloated
budgets of the failed government school, healthcare
and welfare systems — by massive privatization.
But
don’t hold your breath! You don’t count, you are
only a subject of the big power interests in
Richmond and Washington.
